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Monday, August 26, 2013

August

So.... August is almost over and here's my confession: this blog has basically been on autopilot for this entire month. Almost every post this month was written way in advance and scheduled to post. Which is fine, I guess, except I've been pretty much completely disengaged. And the whole point of blogging is to engage with your library community.

Typically, August is our time to breathe and recoup and plan for the fall. We debrief Summer Reading Club, we get our shelves back in order, maybe we even do a little weeding. I look forward to August!!!

And this August we transitioned to a new ILS. And right before that happened, our servers crashed irreparably. Transitioning to a new system is never easy, between figuring out the bugs, rethinking workflows, and retraining patrons to the new system. And this is what the entire month of August has been about. Everything's in a bit of disarray, lots of things are still broken, and now fall programs are about to start.

In September, we'll be back to our normal programming schedule (including debuting some new programs: beginning readers' storytime and preschool science) and starting our afterschool visits. Although I'm looking forward to seeing the kids again (and hoping we'll get good turnout for our new offerings), I don't feel ready in any way! There was so much more I wanted to get done this month!

But. I'm hoping, as we get back into our library routine, that I'll be able to re-engage with my blogging world. I'm hoping to feel a little more inspired to write about and share what's been going on. I have some great posts yet to write: presenting at the Children's & Young People's Division conference on STEM programming, our shoestring 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program which had a soft launch this month, the new storytime programs that we're debuting this fall...

So, be on the lookout for those items to come, and maybe not much else for awhile. This August has kicked my butt, but I think I'm ready to get back in gear. Soon. ;)

What I've Been Reading

Our leadership team at the library is reading this book for a team book discussion early in the new year. Cy Wakeman has a lot of insightful and relevant things to say about leaders helping their employees deal with realities (instead of...

The other day I was browsing Netflix, wondering what to watch and thought I just might watch Cosmos over again. Listening to this audiobook was a good substitute. Tyson does what he sets out to do here: boils down his massive, technical ...

This thriller set in Southern Indiana and written by actress Krysten Ritter definitely kept me at the edge of my seat. Something's wrong in Abby Williams's hometown of Barrens, Indiana. Her ecological legal team has been brought in to in...

Grace Hopper made amazing contributions to the field of computer science that helped develop computers as we use them today. This would make a super family read, making the subject accessible to young children, if parents are interested ...